


Come Rain or Shine

by jacquelee



Series: Warehouse 13 reimagined [1]
Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Community: gameofcards, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-30 00:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10148903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquelee/pseuds/jacquelee
Summary: First installment of an AU, in which Artie does not touch the Phoenix and therefore dies together with the firemen when James goes to save Carol, so Mrs. Frederic asks Vanessa to assume leadership over the Warehouse.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [gameofcards](http://gameofcards.livejournal.com) for the prompt "come rain or shine".

"The Warehouse has always endured. It will endure this time." 

Vanessa looked up. She had been sitting at Artie's desk, looking at a picture of him and the old team. None of them were here anymore. She didn't know why she had been summoned today of all days, now, right after the funeral. But with Mrs. Frederic suddenly appearing behind her as always, she expected to get some answers. 

"So, come rain or shine?"

"Something like that. I am not making light of what happened. One of our own being seduced by an artifact as dangerous as the Phoenix and killing this many people even to save someone he loves, killing his own partner, that is something that even by our standards is a tragedy. Not that it is without precedence, but it does leave us with rather a predicament. With Arthur dead and James being expected to receive several life sentences for his crime, we need someone else to lead the Warehouse. Someone with experience."

Noticing the expectant look Mrs. Frederic was giving her, Vanessa suddenly understood. She got up from her chair, shaking her head. 

"No. No, I am a doctor, not a field agent."

"Dr. Calder, neither I nor the regents expect you to take up the work of a field agent. We understand that you are first and foremost a doctor, and that is what you will remain. The only thing we ask of you is to return to the Warehouse again and to do your work for the CDC and your duties as Warehouse doctor from here. You are the only one left who knows the Warehouse."

"But I was only here a few years. I have never had the connection to the Warehouse that Hugo had or Artie."

Mrs. Frederic tilted her head to the side. 

"I think you underestimate yourself. The Warehouse needs to recover, it needs to heal from the wounds current events have dealt it. And I believe that it has chosen you to help it with that. Like I said, nobody expects you to work as a full field agent. You will just work the cases you would already be involved in with the CDC, and I will pick up any other urgent cases myself, as Caretakers have always done in times when there was a sudden… decrease in field agents."

Having noticed the slight pause, Vanessa raised her eyebrows but didn't comment. There were more urgent things to discuss than the very obvious truth that Warehouse field agents did have the habit of often being suddenly decreased in numbers. 

"What if I decline? What if I don't want to return to the Warehouse."

What if it is too hard? Too painful? 

She didn't say the last part but it was implied. 

"It is your decision, of course. Nothing will be decided without your consent. I merely ask you to consider it. The Warehouse likes you. It needs you. But neither the Warehouse itself, nor I, nor the regents would ever ask you to stay against your wish. This is your decision and your decision alone. 

"For now, Angela is picking up the slack in regards to filing and inventory, seeing that her duties in the B&B are few at the moment. We can and will find new field agents in time, but we would prefer someone with at least some experience to run the Warehouse."

Vanessa nodded. 

"I need to think about it."

Smiling, Mrs. Frederic nodded too. 

"Of course. Take all the time you need."

Vanessa returned the smile and looked down onto the desk, at the photograph. So many lives lost. Then she turned around and looked up, in the direction of the Warehouse. Endless wonder. She had left it to pursue a different career, to pursue healing and helping people. 

But if she was honest with herself, she had also left it because she had known that she would never be able to actually lead the Warehouse in the way she wanted to. Not with so many men around. Not with Hugo and James and Artie. She didn't begrudge them their style of leadership, but it was easier to work in her own field, being able to do things her way, getting the recognition she wanted and deserved. 

Not that she was in any way happy about their deaths, on the contrary, she had lost her best friends, and she had been quite content at the CDC and with her status as Warehouse doctor. But now, under these circumstances, maybe Mrs. Frederic was right in more than one sense. The Warehouse might need her but maybe she also needed the Warehouse. 

She knew the Warehouse would endure without her, as Mrs. Frederic said, it always had, come rain or shine, but maybe this was exactly what she needed right now. She turned around again. 

"I think I…"

Realizing that Mrs. Frederic had vanished, she stopped and smiled. 

Right. Better get used to that again.


End file.
